Resolve disputes through dialogue, says Dalai Lama
: Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama on Saturday advised the world to resolve issues, spats and disputes through dialogue, instead of using power.
The Dalai Lama is on a fourday visit to the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, Sarnath, in Varanasi. He inaugurated a two-day seminar on ‘Mind in Indian Philosophical School of Thought and Modern Sciences’ on Saturday.
Addressing the gathering, the Dalai Lama said, “All of us are in the 21st century. Countries in the east are dependent on those in the west. Countries in the north are dependent on those in the south. Economies (of the many nations) are dependent on one another.”
“It is not a good idea to use power to solve spats and disputes. Give up using power and the demonstration of power as it is an outdated habit which developed as the human mind was used negatively most of the time during the last several centuries. Solve the spats and disputes through mutual dialogue,” he said. He said it was a matter of great concern that people at present believed that weapons were very important and they felt investing more on developing deadly weapons for military purposes was a wise move.
“This is not good for mankind,” he said.
He also expressed concern over the arms race. He described global warming and many other problems across the world as the outcome of negative use of the human intellect.
“It is an irony that even today many people are not using their mind in the right direction,” he said. “For positive use of the mind, there is a need to focus on development of internal values,” the Dalai Lama said, adding the modern education system was based on materialism.
“It doesn’t focus on the development of internal values. It just focuses on developing qualities which ensure materialistic development. There is a need to focus more on internal development in order to inculcate compassion, kindness and love in ourselves and the coming generations for the peace and welfare of the world.”
“For development of internal values, there is a requirement to turn to ancient Indian wisdom which has the solution to all problems,” he said.
He said most of the problems were manmade and global warming was one of them.
Referring to the violence in Syria and Afghanistan, the Dalai Lama said, “If people in any part of the globe are suffering or are in trauma, we should pray so that their suffering comes to an end. We should also make efforts to find a solution to their problems.”
He also said, “Let us take a resolution to make the 21st century a century of peace.”